Move Over, Energizer Bunny!

usedto

Lunatic Member
As part of my business I've bought and sold government surplus, mostly in the 80s and 90s before they started closing bases down. When they closed McClellan AFB in Sacramento, there were tons of deals on surplus property. I ended up with a couple thousand Soltec HM 102S multi-meters (cheapo's) that the government got rid of. They bought them in 1985, but there was a little problem with them. The meters are sealed in barrier paper with the leads and instructions. In another barrier package were the two AA batteries and 1 9V battery,, then all packaged in a cardboard box.. Unfortunately, after 10 or 12 years, some of the batteries started to leak and corrode, so instead of just replacing the batteries, they sold them all through DRMO. Since the batteries were sealed in barrier paper, the leakage never went anywhere. All on needed to do is open the box, toss the battery packet, and get new ones for the meter.

I sold all of them I had, and for years the market was flooded with them. My couple thousand were just a small part of what they had. Then, some years back, one customer who I had wholesaled a bunch to had around 900 left that he no longer wanted, so I got them back. I just let them sit in the warehouse, then when I opened my ebay account 3 years ago, I started selling them, since most of the others were long gone. When someone buys one, I open the box, toss out the battery packet, re-seal it, and slap on a shipping label. (As stated in my ad).

Today I was getting two ready to ship, and for some reason I decided to open the battery packs. The first one was totally corroded, but the second, only the AAs were. The 9v looked pretty good, so I peeled of the plastic cover and hooked a meter up to it.solteca.jpg

Sorry for the crummy photo, but you can see the meter reads right at 9 volts. The long number close to the bottom of the label on the box is the contract number, and the "85C" in the center means they were bought in 1985.

I don't know how long the battery will last, but that's not bad for 30+ years.
 
That is pretty good. Many capacitors don't last that long.

Why is that battery brand not a thing?
 
The batteries were made by company called STC in Korea. Can't seem to kind any accurate info on them.
 
Back
Top Bottom